History

A common starting point among shapers, Tyler’s introduction to board building began in his father’s garage. Tyler, then in 3rd grade, observed his father craft from start to finish his first surfboard, a six-foot, diamond-tail single fin. Tyler’s experience of witnessing his father single-handily create a surfboard would eventually influence his ideology behind surf manufacturing in the years to come.

Aside from his passion for surfing, Tyler’s family history of hot rodding inspired him to utilize his knack for working with his hands and focus his intense attention to detail into rebuilding and restoring customs, hot rods, and classic cars. It was not until his passions began to meld, his quest of building traditional surfboards started to materialize. Being consumed by classic cars and inspired by the culture around it, led Tyler to wonder, what surfing was like back in the era when his car projects were contemporary?

As he began to research and study the history of surfing, his interests geared him towards heavy-glassed single fins while the contemporary surf industry was stuck on the redundant beat of lightly-laminated thrusters and the limited variations spawned from it. Tyler’s self-galvanized project eventually brought him to the late ‘60s: the beginning of the popularity of the shortboard and its boom into mass surf culture. Instead of seeing the industry’s shift towards the shortboard as a linear progression in the history of surfboard manufacturing, Tyler saw a fork in the road. His new mindset: advancing the traditional equipment from Surfing’s Golden Era that had been left behind and deemed “so-called” obsolete.

Coincidentally, Tyler, a native of El Segundo, an industrial beach town located in the middle of Los Angeles County on the tailing end of the South Bay, plays the perfect environment for Tyler’s surfboard endeavors. The South Bay, with Hermosa Beach deemed the first true, ”Surf City,” was the epicenter of ‘60s surf culture by being the central ground and birthplace for surfboard manufacturing. In the Southern left corner of the Santa Monica Bay, the South Bay housed five of the world’s biggest companies, Velzy, Jacob’s, Bing, Greg Noll, Dewey Weber, and Rick. The heyday of these manufacturers culminated in ‘50s and ‘60s before most of them “went fishing” as a response to the aftermath of the “so-called” shortboard revolution by the ‘70s. This is the era Tyler identifies as the starting point in his own progression of classic surfboard designs.

After over 30-years of commitment to improving his skills as both a shaper and glasser, Tyler’s surfboards are not only far from replica, they are developing a reputation of being iconic on their own. He is proud to carry on the planer after following the footsteps of the legendary craftsmen of his local surf community with many of them he is on a first name basis.

Tyler’s Surfboards are of a completely unique evolution of design built of the highest standards of quality with impeccable craftsmanship put to test personally by Tyler and his team of test pilots in local Southern California breakers and waves abroad. Each surfboard is crafted with a simple, yet innovative, purpose: to empower the surfer to ride a wave in such a way he or she never thought possible. His commitment to his vision and his perpetual learning is fueled by the belief…you never truly “arrive.”

Tyler continues to reside with his wife and nine-year-old daughter in the place he has spent his whole life, El Segundo. On the other side of town, the Tyler Surfboard’s factory is a cultural mecca. The shop is part surfboard manufacturer/ surf museum/auto museum and houses all his future projects in the adjacent yard, most notably a ’41 ford with a custom chop from the ‘50s.